Conroe father sent to prison in toddler's death

A Conroe father was sentenced this week to nine years in prison in the death of his 16-month-old son after jurors concluded that his actions were reckless - not intentional.

Willie L. Jackson III, 24, a nursing home attendant, had faced a possible life sentence before being convicted Friday of the lesser charge of recklessness that caused injury to a child, which carries a two- to 20-year penalty. Jackson was sentenced Monday.

The Harris County medical examiner found Jackson's son, LaMarcus, died on Oct. 22, 2013 as a result of internal bleeding from a fractured skull. The death was ruled a homicide.

During the trial, two pathologists and one anthropologist with the Harris County medical examiner's office testified the boy had suffered two skull fractures - with the most acute one occurring shortly before his death. The second fracture, they said, had occurred two to eight weeks earlier.

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According to investigators, Jackson said he had only learned of his son's existence when the child was 14 months old, and that LaMarcus had been left in his care about a month before he died. The boy's biological mother, Lauren Green of Grand Prairie, had brought the child to stay with Jackson at his Conroe apartment after her arrest on a home burglary charge.

However, Jackson's attorney, E. Tay Bond, put on the witness stand a Minnesota forensic pathologist who disputed the Harris County expert's findings. Bond's pathologist believed both skull fractures occurred before the child was taken to live with his father.

Prosecutor Jim Prewitt said he only needed to prove that the last and most acute fracture had occurred on the father's watch, just before the boy died. However, Prewitt said the second fracture might also have occurred during the two to four weeks when the boy was living with his father.

On the night the child was taken to the hospital, Jackson told investigators, he had been home alone with his son. He said he'd been playing video games while the child played with toys on the carpet.

About 7 p.m., he said, he gave the boy some oatmeal. He said he then put the toddler to bed, but said that 15 minutes later he heard the child gasping for breath.

However, he later changed his story to say the boy was not put to bed but banged his head on the corner of a kitchen counter after dinner. Jackson also told authorities he had shaken the baby in an effort to resuscitate him.

Prosecutors refuted Jackson's claim that he twice called 911 when his chid was in respiratory distress, because phone records showed that he'd only called once, after he'd taken 40 minutes to do a web search about babies gasping for air, Prewitt said.

His first call had actually been to his girlfriend and her mother, who, upon arrival at the apartment, were the ones to direct him to quickly dial 911, Prewitt said,After dialing, he handed the phone to his girlfriend's mother, who talked to the operator and followed CPR instructions until emergency medical workers arrived to transport him to the hospital. The boy did not recover and was pronounced dead the next day.

During the punishment phase, Jackson took the stand and acknowledged that he probably should have called 911 sooner, when he realized his baby was in distress. "He apologized to the jury. He said he's lost a son and knows he should have done better. But he never admitted to causing the injuries," his attorney said.

However, Prewitt said Jackson showed little remorse: "He was very argumentative."

Prewitt praised the jury for carefully weighing all the evidence in such a difficult case involving a child's death.

Likewise, the defense attorney, Bond, said his client accepted the jury's decision and realized his punishment could have been worse.